Adding your own custom parts to Toolbox

The Toolbox add-in is installed with over 2,000 components with multiple size variations. If you multiply that by the number of standards, you will get millions of possible components that can be created. But what happens when you have a new component type that you would like to include in Toolbox and share with your coworkers? The answer is easy, especially if you knew that you could add your own components to Toolbox. Let’s look at how.

Note: It is important to identify someone who will be the administrator of Toolbox. We will sometimes refer to this person as the librarian. Simply put, this person will make sure that Toolbox is configured properly for your team. As you will see, adding files to Toolbox is very easy, but you want to make sure it is customized for your organization’s use.

Step 1: Access Toolbox Settings. With the add-in turned on, right click any of the standard folders and select “Configure.”

Step 2: In Toolbox, select page 2, this will take you to the customize hardware section of Toolbox.

Step 3: Right Click on the standard you would like to add the components to and select “New Folder.” You may want to also create a subfolder using the same method to create a classification of the components as well.

Step 4: Right click the folder and select “Add File…” this will allow you to browse to the SOLIDWORKS file you would like to add to the toolbox.

Step 5: You can add custom properties and even set a color to be used when they are placed into an assembly.

Now that you have placed files within Toolbox, they are now shared with everyone on your team using that Toolbox. You can simply drag and drop them from the Design Library tab of the Task Pane.